COVER STORY | FUSION INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
Fusion’s growth trajectory
A snapshot of the global fusion industry reveals growing confidence alongside a shift in the investment profile. NEI spoke with Fusion Industry Association CEO Andrew Holland about what the latest numbers reveal
THE FUSION INDUSTRY HAS NOW succeeded in attracting more than $7.1bn of investment, with more than $900m of that coming in the last year alone. This is the conclusion of the latest annual report from the Fusion Industry Association (FIA). Andrew Holland, the FIA’s Chief Executive Officer, tells
NEI: “Significant amounts of money this year of over $900m indicates that investors are still bullish on the growth of this technology, even as it has been a difficult environment to raise capital in lots of tech industries.” With both public and private investors pumping an additional near billion dollars into the companies working to commercialise fusion technology, the report notes that as part of the year’s funding, total public funding increased by 57% to reach $426m, showing governments increasingly see public-private partnerships as key to commercialising fusion. In contrast with previous annual assessments, investment is split roughly 50-50 between public and private finance sources.
Public-private finance split changes The increase in public funding directed into private companies has risen from $271m in 2023 to $426m in 2024 from direct grants or cost-shares in public-private partnerships. The report suggests that this increase in government investment, which is likely an undercount as some things go unreported, not only reflects a heightened interest from national governments, but also signals a strategic choice by a growing number of governments that it will be business, not government, that will deliver the pilot plants that demonstrate fusion as a viable energy source. The report concludes that while fusion will be commercialised by private companies, public programmes will continue to lead the world with groundbreaking scientific research and enabling technology. The report argues that while competition is good among companies for spurring private sector innovation, there is no need to pit government programmes against private companies as the two must support each other. As fusion advances towards
Above: Tokamak Energy signed an agreement with the Department of Energy as part of the United States public-private fusion programme
24 | August 2024 |
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